Star Tribune
Fired Duluth church youth leader sentenced in 3 more sex assault cases
Gatlin, 36, pleaded guilty to five counts of felony-level sexual conduct earlier this month after a handful of women accused him of sexual assault dating back to when they were school-aged and he was in his 20s and in a position of authority within the Duluth church. At the time, his parents — reportedly aware of his actions — served as pastors. They resigned from their positions in early 2023, unwilling to cooperate in an internal investigation. Jackson Gatlin was fired.
His parents, Michael and Brenda Gatlin, are subject of nine civil lawsuits, alongside Jackson Gatlin, Duluth Vineyard and Vineyard USA.
Tuesday’s sentencing, which took about 10 minutes and, as has been the case throughout, drew a packed courtroom. It centered on the final three victims whose claims against Gatlin are all similar. According to criminal complaints, the women told authorities about invitations to Gatlin’s home under false pretense, being assaulted in his bedroom, his parents’ bedroom or his car. One of the three victims told investigators that he restrained her.
Victim 1′s mother told authorities that she called Gatlin’s mother, but that Brenda Gatlin told her that “We know your daughter has issues.”
One victim came forward to Vineyard leadership in late 2022 and more followed. The incidents were reported to Duluth police, along with Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (GRACE), a nonprofit organization that conducts independent investigations. In early 2023, some of the victims took to social media with their stories.
Gatlin, who had worked with youth between 2006 and 2023, was charged in October 2023. He was briefly held in the St. Louis County jail, where he returned after pleading guilty Nov. 6.
None of Gatlin’s new sentences exceed the 13 years he will serve, followed by a lifetime of conditions — including registering as a sex offender. Dressed in an oversized orange jumpsuit, he declined to speak in the courtroom.
Legislative leaders announced this week who will chair committees in the next session, appointments that will shape the tenor of debate in the Minnesota House that will almost certainly be evenly divided in a rare tie between DFLers and Republicans.
Bills are typically debated and amended in at least one committee before going before the full House for a vote. In a typical year, bills could pass out of committee on a partisan vote. But the two caucus leaders, Rep. Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park and Rep. Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, say committees will consist of 14 representatives, seven from each party. And next year’s rules will require eight votes for a bill to pass out of committee — not just a majority of the representatives present.
“So that we’re not playing the ‘who went to the bathroom’ game or, ‘whose car got stuck in the snow’” Hortman said. “That was part of the problem they encountered in 1979,” the last year the House was tied.
Instead of trying to find a partisan advantage at any opportunity, Hortman and Demuth said they both want to work on a bipartisan basis.
When a bill comes out of committee, Hortman said, it will already have bipartisan support. She compared the process of finding bipartisan agreement on a bill in committee to conference committees during divided government. When the DFL controlled the House and Republicans controlled the Senate from 2019 to 2022, she said, Republicans and Democrats had to come to agreements on bills. She and Demuth are confident that can happen again.
In a normal year with one party in the majority, the majority party would appoint representatives to run committees. But this year, each committee will have two co-chairs, one from each party.
Hortman said the plan is for the Republican and Democratic co-chairs to each lead about half of the committee meetings, setting the agenda for the day. Maybe that will mean a week of DFL-run meetings followed by a week of Republican-run meetings, she said, but more likely the partisan co-chairs will just alternate days.
Demuth and Hortman said they worked together to decide how many committees there would be and which subjects they would work on. The caucuses appointed committee co-chairs independent of each other. Demuth said she was focused on seniority and subject-area expertise.
A man shot outside a bar during a robbery attempt outside a St. Paul bar last month has died, nearly one month after he suffered grave injuries in the plot that allegedly involved a setup by the bartender and others surveilling him before attempting to steal the thousands in cash he carried, charges say.
St. Paul police said that Oscar Lee Covington, 42, of Brooklyn Park, died Tuesday from his injuries after he was removed from life support following the Oct. 30 shooting outside Born’s Bar at 899 Rice Street in the North End neighborhood.
Charging documents against multiple people alleged to have been involved in the robbery suggest that Covington was robbed and shot as a result of a quickly unfolding scheme organized in part by the bartender, Erica Hampton, 41, of St. Paul. She is charged with aiding an offender after the fact while a co-defendant, Edward D. Robinson, is charged with first-degree riot and two counts of first-degree aggravated robbery — counts that were filed before Covington died.
According to the complaints, officers responded to Born’s Bar at around 5:45 p.m. on Oct. 30 for a shooting. There they found Covington on the ground in front of the bar. A bullet pierced his navel, and he told police that a man tried to rob him before shooting him.
Medics brought Covington to Regions Hospital where he told police that he was drinking at Born’s Bar before the shooting. Hampton overpoured drinks for Covington, and he paid using some of the $4,500 in cash he carried with him that day to buy a “little bike.” He said a short guy approached him for a cigarette outside the bar, and 4-6 people stood near him. Covington noticed that they wore hoods over their heads despite the warm weather, so he threw visual reality googles he was carrying inside of his vehicle.
That’s when the short man said “this ain’t what you’re looking for” and Covington claimed the group attacked. They fought behind Covington’s car, ripping money and jewelry from the man’s pockets. Then he heard someone yell to shoot him, and he felt searing pain in his stomach.
Despite immediate surgery, Covington’s condition worsened in the hospital. Covington’s wife said on Nov. 1 that fluid collected on his lungs and blood gathered in his stomach. He went into cardiac arrest, and was revived and placed on life support to relieve pressure to his heart and lungs. But at 12:54 a.m. Tuesday, Covington’s wife told investigators that he died after being removed from life support.
Investigators collected a handgun, bullet casing, broken necklaces, a wallet, two phones, and surveillance footage from the scene. That footage captured two of the robbers get into a Toyota Camry registered to one of the bartenders.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate to ask the taxpayers to fund the errors of the state,” he said, explaining why he didn’t support a different option before the board that involved turning to voters for more money next fall.
In recent surveys and community meetings about the proposed budget cuts, nearly 90% of respondents said they supported an option that involved delaying cuts and asking taxpayers for more money.
Board Co-Chair Kacy Deschene said none of the options before the board represented a “perfect solution for everybody.”
“We do know cuts are coming,” she said. “I feel like I’m repeating that as a broken record, but I want to make very clear that option three, as it’s before us, does not mean there are no future cuts.”
“I know the work has been stressful as you’ve considered the very passionate feedback from many voices,” McIntyre said, adding that he would support any option the board chose and all of the choices would require compromise. “While the challenges are real and the decisions difficult, we must move forward with a balanced budget that serves the best interests of our students and staff.”
